Is Paying a Premium for Experimentation A Good Value for Diners?

by Matt Duckor

on 06/20/14 at 04:40 PM

This August, the much-lauded San Francisco fine-dining spot Saison announced a new series of "Saison Test Kitchen" dinners. For $498, a single seating of eight diners will have the chance to have a meal cooked by chef Joshua Skenes within the restaurant's private research kitchen, featuring dishes that haven't made it on to the restaurant's menu and wine pairings poured by sommelier Mark Bright.

Is this a case of diner as high-end, well-fed Guinea Pig?

We've reached a controversial new point on the How a Restaurant Works Timeline: Diners are being asked to pay for access to a chef's creative process, something that's a necessary part of a great restaurant but has traditonally been internal.

So, is this a good value for diners?

Surpisingly, it could be. That's because Saison is one of the country's most expensive restaurants. In a recent review, Eater restaurant critic Bill Addison included the fact that his recent meal at the restaurant set him back $864 (for one, mind you). That price reflects the restaurant's lengthy "Discovery Menu" plus a cocktail, pairings, tax, and tip. The restaurant's standard menu runs $248. Add pairings to that and you'll be spending $496--just two dollars less than attending one of the test kitchen dinners.

Whether you think any meal is worth that amount of money is one thing. But, if you do fall into the camp that believes you can't put a price that sort of thing, my past meals at Saison have been nothing short of extraordinary. In the past five years, he's received nearly every critical accolade available, from Food & Wine's prestigious Best New Chef designation to two Michelin stars to a rare four-star review from The San Francisco Chronicle just last month. Skenes is a leader in his industry, someone whose every move is watched and emulated by other chefs.

Skenes has earned the ability to experiment like this.

Though diners will be getting an exclusive experience, it will be an experimental one. At Saison, that will be part of the attraction--being able to personally interact with a great chef while he serves you still-in-progress dishes.

Obviously, we've come a long way from the days when chefs would spend weeks and months perfecting dishes (as Skenes does at Saison) and the result of all that would seemingly stay on the menu forever, but even when it's common place for menus to change weekly and even daily, asking diners to pay for access to a dish that a chef is essentially still working through is new territory.

So, why bother examining the implications of what a chef like Skenes chooses to do for eight people at week on Saturday night? Because he's easily one of the most talented American chefs working today.

And that emulation is where things start getting dangerous.

The question is less about whether the experience Skenes will create when the new dinners roll out on August 2nd is worth the money--the eight seats a week will instantly become one of the hardest reservations in the country to come by.

It's more something like this: What happens when less-experienced (or, frankly, less talented) chefs around the country begin adopting this sort of thinking? An increasing number of restaurants are taking cues from Momofuku and Noma and establishing their own "R&D" or "Test" kitchen spaces and staffs. Whether or not that's necessary for most restaurants is one thing, but I can firmly say that we don't need kitchens all over the country opening up to charge for half-baked ideas.

Like lengthy tasting menus themselves (which were the subject of much internet debate last year), there are only a handful of chefs who warrant this type of fertilization.

So how can more chefs share their cooking experiments with diners without a series of test kitchen diners? Washington DC hotspot Rose's Luxury's new roof garden has what can only be referred to as the high-end equivalent of an all-you-can-eat buffet. According to Eater, the kitchen sends out a cavalcade of dishes--a mixture of menu, off-menu, and yes, dishes that the kitchen is "testing out"--to diners until they "can't eat anymore."

As a part of a special menu like this, including still-in-progress dishes makes more sense. Instead of building an experience around them, Rose's Luxury uses the testing dishes to augment an existing menu concept.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to constantly refresh my browser window starting now for a chance to see what Skenes comes up with.